


Even Heroes Need Heroes

by longlostintentions



Series: Untold Ethnographic Archive of Galahd [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brief Suggestive Theme, Crushes, Foklore, Gen, I'm actually pretty proud of this one please read, Just hinted at kinda, Let Boys Have Meaningful Heart To Heart Talks 2k18, Light Angst, M/M, Oneshot, Young Teen Nyx ?, happy end, no relationships - Freeform, questioning faith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 14:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14082723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longlostintentions/pseuds/longlostintentions
Summary: Young Nyx is questioning the lore he'd always believed in. Luckily he's got his own hero to help him out.Another Drabble. Will I ever stop? No.





	Even Heroes Need Heroes

      For the third time since they sat down, Libertus prodded Nyx in the shoulder to pull his attention back to their schoolwork. His chin was resting in his hand as he stared pretty blatantly across the square at Taehl. His attention dragged its feet but he slowly came back to the book in front of him. Libertus teased him sometimes but they never really talked about it outside that. He'd been like this for ages.

“C'mon, Taehl will still be there later, but if your Titi catches you slacking off you KNOW she's going to make you go inside and do chores...” he warned. This brought Nyx's eyes back down to his book with a sigh.

      Ever since he was old enough to have an awareness of people outside his own little world, Nyx had an affinity for Taehl. Taehl was older, with several beads already collected in his hair. He was lean, sculpted for the hunting he was so adept at. There were a couple families that had descended from elite lines of hunters. Just like Nyx, Taehl was the offspring of one such line. Very soon he would go out on his solo hunt to, as Nyx understood, complete his journey into adulthood. Nyx couldn't help having a long held admiration, and perhaps, he suspects as he reflects in his later years on the days in childhood spent gazing at him and the nights in early teendom spent alone in his room with his hand, a crush as well.

      Taehl was kind enough, their families occasionally had dealings and Nyx saw him around fairly often. He would give Nyx a smile, or ruffle his hair, or let him watch as he practiced techniques. Nyx couldn't do much in those times but stand straighter, trying to look older and more mature than he was, but not trusting his mouth to speak much. Someday, he hoped Taehl might spar with him, seeing him as a worthy cause. It was a goal, but also a bit of a painful reminder that he was still very young, and Taehl was growing up.

      On one particular day, Nyx and Libertus walked from the schoolhouse, talking animatedly. The subject of the Silver Coeurl came up, Nyx would never remember how. All he would remember is an older boy laughing loudly as he walked by, drawing their attention. When the boys glared in his direction, he looked smug for a few more minutes, as he clearly had something important that he was holding over them they didn't know about.

“You still believe in the Silver Coeurl? I thought only babies thought it was real, but I guess that isn't surprising,” he said. The boys crossed their arms and Nyx took a stance.

“It IS real, you stupid Goblin. My Didi knows. It wouldn't ever show itself to someone like you anyways!” he tossed back at him. The older boy is unaffected.

“He's a liar. Just because he's an Ulric doesn't mean he knows everything.”

Nyx tenses for a fight but Libertus is quicker, picking up a stick and throwing it at the boy who dodges.

“Get lost, would you?” he shouts. They might have been in serious trouble if a grown up hadn't walked by at that moment, casting a piercing look at all of them and making them separate, fuming.

      The whole walk home, Nyx pretended it didn't bother him. He waited as he watched Libertus go back into his house, after casting one more wary look back at him, before taking off for the river. He needed to be alone. He walked through a slim path in the bushes until he reached a tiny cliff overlooking a branch of the river. He'd been coming here for ages any time he needed peace. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear the bushes rustling. He only snapped out of it when a voice spoke as it drew nearer to him.

“I hadn't expected to run into you here, Little Ulric,” Taehl said before sitting next to him on the cliff. Nyx straightened up immediately and looked over at him, his heart beating just a little harder. He didn't want Taehl of all people to see him upset.

“Do you come here when you need to think too?” Taehl asked, smiling over at him.

“You look out of sorts.”

Nyx nodded and turned his gaze back to the water.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked Taehl. At first he was worried it might be too invasive, but Taehl seemed to comply without any hesitation.

“About my hunt. I'm... Worried about leaving home,” he admitted. Nyx wanted to tell him he was worried about that too, but it seemed petty right now.

“The world outside is dangerous right now,” he continued. Nyx cast him a sideways glance.

“Because of the daemons?” he asked. Taehl hesitated before nodding.

“Yes... Those too... But there are other things. Worse things I think. People,” he said vaguely. Nyx had overheard his parents talking about the rest of Lucis, the rest of Eos even. He didn't know what exactly what happening, only that something big was approaching, like a storm. Taehl didn't seem up for explaining any further, instead he turned his attention to Nyx.

“Now it's your turn, what is weighing you down?” he asked. Nyx hesitated, unsure whether he wanted to say it, but he was sure with the way the older boy was looking at him he wouldn't drop it easily.

“Someone said today.... The Silver Coeurl isn't real... I always told my Didi that I would catch it someday, but now I'm not sure... Did he lie to me?” he tried explaining. It felt insufficient. Taehl smiled sympathetically.

“An Ulric questioning his faith, now that is surprising,” he answered before turning back towards the water, resting his chin on his knuckles.

“But... That is an important thing to think about.”

Nyx was thankful, he didn't feel quite as childish.

“Do you believe the Silver Coeurl exists?” he asked finally. Taehl looked thoughtful, even hesitant. Instead of answering right away he stood, holding his hand out.

“Come walk with me, Little Ulric.”

Nyx stood, trying to appear tall and brave and everything he didn't feel at the moment.

      They made their way down to the banks of the river and walked alongside it. Nyx didn't want to puncture the silence, he was worried it might breaks something in the fabric of this moment. Finally, Taehl seemed to have collected his thoughts.

“To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I think the Silver Coeurl exists,” he said finally. Nyx felt the warmth and weight of a hand on his shoulder as they walked.

“But I don't think your father meant to decieve you.”

Nyx waited for him to explain.

“Besides strength, what are the most important qualities in a hunter?” he asked. Nyx thought back to his studies.

“Trust, determination, perseverence, strong will...” he listed. Taehl smiled.

“Very good, you're learning much faster than I did at your age.”

Nyx flushed with pride and stood a little taller.

“I think the Silver Coeurl is a lesson, and that is what it teaches us. Whether it exists or not isn't the point, there will be hunts almost as elusive and ethereal. You have to be ready for them, you have to utilize those traits to find them. As you would with the Coeurl.”

Nyx wasn't sure he was quite ready to accept the idea of the Silver Coeurl being simply a myth, but at least if he ever did decide to, he would have something softer to fall back on.

      When it came time for Taehl to depart on his hunt, he gave Nyx his practice dagger. It was the next step up from his spear and he was thrilled to have it. He began to treasure it more and more as the days turned into weeks, then months, and years. Rumors rippled through the village like a depressing song. Taehl was dead. Nobody stayed away on their hunts this long. At first, whenever Nyx had caught anyone nearby saying something like that, he would defend him angrily. He would not accept that someone as talented and kind as Taehl could simply disappear off the star. As the weeks wore on and his return seemed less and less likely, Nyx stopped leaving his room often. He could not be coaxed out by his parents, nor his baby sister, or even Libertus. How could he have faith that trust and determination would carry him through, when it had not even saved Taehl? As the village mourned and the years passed, Nyx came back around to his training, and he was becoming sorely talented, though his spirit had hardened a little. He developed other goals in his sights besides simply being a hunter. He stopped praying as much. He delayed his own hunt. It seemed as though some part of him had been cut out.

      Now, he is more a man. He has, on occasion, young boys and girls who gaze at him from a distance. It makes him laugh, realizing how obvious he must have been in his youth. He's closing down the bar, wiping up the counters, when he hears the bell chime.

“Sorry, we're closing up,” he says, not looking up from the countertop. Then he hears a familiar voice, only deepened by age.

“My, you've grown some, Little Ulric.”

Nyx's heart catches in his throat as he slowly raises his head.

There stands a man, dressed in furs. Around his neck hangs a large silver fang.

 


End file.
